YOUNGSTOWN — In the ongoing saga over a new home for the Mahoning County Board of Elections, county commissioners wrote a letter stating under Ohio law it is the board’s responsibility to select a building and the commissioners’ job to review the cost.

The letter, signed by the three commissioners, to elections Director Tom McCabe states: “Once the board of elections selects a location and proposes a lease, the commissioners are required to review that lease within 30 days. The commissioners may approve or reject a proposed location based on budgetary” reasons.

Elections officials have vocally complained for the past two years about the conditions at the county-owned Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., where the board offices are located.

Pointing to state law, the letter puts the onus of finding a new location on the board, though the commissioners wrote: “We strongly urge and implore the board of elections to remain within the city of Youngstown, particularly in or near downtown Youngstown.”

The commissioners added: “As our historic county seat, a Youngstown location is centrally located, accessible, connected to public transportation and close to other government offices. It is our belief that these factors benefit all residents throughout Mahoning County.”

One possibility offered by commissioners and already ruled out by election officials is a proposed $60 million county government facility at the former Eastern Gateway Community College location in downtown Youngstown. Board officials say the downtown location wouldn’t have adequate space for voting machines and for voters, as well as inadequate parking.

No designs have been drawn for the proposed building.

McCabe said Tuesday the elections board is discussing leasing the Patriot Building in Austintown, a former call center off state Route 46, for its offices from the Western Reserve Port Authority.

The board was interested in moving there in late 2024 when the commissioners initially paid $2.5 million to the WRPA to acquire the building. The commissioners in January signed an agreement with the WRPA to reallocate that $2.5 million for the demolition of Eastern Gateway.

Objections to moving the elections board out of Youngstown came from local black leaders, who say the location would disenfranchise a large portion of voters who have difficulties with transportation.

The Patriot Building is on a bus route, is easily accessible from nearby interstates and has the space the board needs for voters, the storage of equipment and parking, McCabe said.

“We’re exploring the Patriot Building again, and we will look around, including in Youngstown,” McCabe said.

McCabe and Deputy Director Melissa Wasko said the letter provides written clarity that the elections board has the right to find a new location and the commissioners can accept or reject that spot.

McCabe said: “It will help move the needle. We have something concrete for the commissioners to decide. It gives us formal parameters. I look at the letter as them saying they’re washing their hands if we move to Austintown or Boardman. I don’t know why they’re so insistent we stay in the city and go downtown.”

Wasko added: “It gives them political cover that they want to keep us in Youngstown, and the only authority they have is to deny it for fiscal reasons. It’s clearly so people know it wasn’t their choice.”

Wasko said the elections board was told a decision on a location would be made by December with that time long passed.

McCabe said: “We waited out of respect to the commissioners. But we can’t wait any longer.”

Commissioner Geno DiFabio said: “It’s been on them the whole time. I’m glad it’s moving forward because we’re getting out of Oakhill. If they’re going to say they won’t come downtown then we won’t build the space for them. All we have to worry about is yes or no on a budget” for the board’s lease.

At a March 3 meeting, the elections board voted 3-1 on a resolution asking permission of the commissioners and the county prosecutor to hire independent legal counsel, paid up to $500 an hour, to represent it in its pursuit of a new facility because of a potential conflict of interest having the prosecutor’s office represent both entities.

Wasko said Tuesday that the board isn’t currently pursuing the option of seeking an attorney because “there’s no conflict until there’s a ‘No.’ If there’s a ‘No” that’s when there would be the potential of hiring an attorney. There’s no definitive ‘No’ to any specific building. We need a new building and that’s not in conflict.”

The board’s resolution, passed March 3, states Oakhill “is in materially deficient and hazardous condition, including but not limited to the lack of potable water for employees and unsafe building conditions, and such conditions materially impair the board’s ability to safely and effectively conduct elections and fulfill its statutory obligations.”

A Sept. 29 waterline puncture flooded the area of the building where the board’s voting equipment is stored. None of the equipment was damaged, but that was because it was during work hours and was quickly discovered.

In a controversial move in 2006, county commissioners purchased the former Southside Hospital, renamed it Oakhill Renaissance Place and moved various agencies there, including the board of elections, which was located at the South Side Annex in Youngstown.